Iron Man: Technovore
by Jorus C'baoth
Summary: Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, post Iron Man 3. When a mysterious group breaks Emil Blonsky, aka the Abomination, out of containment, SHIELD tasks Tony "Iron Man" Stark with taking both Blonsky and this mysterious group down, but Blonsky is only stage one of the group's plan, and their leader has ties to Tony's past.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

0016 hours

SHIELD Secure Outpost

Alaska

He couldn't figure out for the life of him why the man still exercised. His body was so fit, it was ridiculous. Agent Peterson watched as the man known as the Abomination finished his three hundred push ups. Blonsky's shirtless chest was drenched in sweat, so Peterson tossed him a towel through the one-way wall. A nifty little invention, thought up by the boys at the Toy Box. Anything could pass into the room created by the invisible wall, but nothing could come out except for non-living things such as clothing, food trays and the like. Agent Pollack was the genious behind it, and it had been tested out on the monster himself, the Hulk. Luckily, Doctor Banner had allowed himself to be the test subject. Nothing could break out of the one-way wall.

Blonsky tossed the towel back out, at Peterson, who caught and tossed it in the laundry chute in one swift motion. Blonsky chuckled at the sight, no doubt thinking about how he could top the seasoned agent. _Go ahead and try_, Peterson thought, _I've been knocked on my ass by the Hulk, too, I can take you._ Peterson smiled, then folded his arms across his chest. He ran his mind through Blonsky's usual training session. Sit ups would be next, and after that, pull ups. Peterson yawned and sat back down at the desk.

"Can I ask you something, Agent Peterson?" Blonsky said, his British accent cutting through the silence that usually permeated the room. "Doesn't it get boring, just sitting down here and watching me?"

Peterson propped his feet up on his desk. "I was kicked out of active field duty after your boyfriend, Banner, knocked me around a bar. Way I see it: watchin' you is as good as being back in the field."

Blonsky chuckled again. "And why is that, Agent Peterson?"

"You've got the same stuff in you as Captain America, right?"

"Yes, as matter of fact, I do."

"That's why. You're as strong as Cap, and you went toe-to-toe with the Hulk. I've gotta stay on my toes if I ever have to stop you from escaping."

Blonsky narrowed his eyes. "And what makes you think you can take me, Agent Peterson?"

Now it was Peterson's turn to chuckle. Soon, he was joined by Blonsky, and then the chuckling turned into full-blown laughter.

* * *

0052 hours

Blonsky sat in a corner of his invisible cell and watched as Agent Peterson slept. He never paced his cell, not once. It was a rather large cell, for some reason. Certainly, they were just waiting for him to transform into his more powerful form so that they could test the strength of their magic walls, but he gave them no such pleasure.

He whistled one of the Russian drinking songs his father had taught him when he was a child, growing up in London. "Always remember something about the homeland, Emil," his father would say. Though he wouldn't set foot on his birth soil until he was twenty-five, he always remained the prideful Russian, through his appearance as your standard Brit.

A noise caught his attention. Sadly, thanks to his enhanced hearing, he was never certain if the sounds were one room away or four, but he could always tell their direction. This one was coming from the east, and it was getting closer. Blonsky stood up and walked toward the sound, coming to the edge of the cell. The door burst open, surprising Agent Peterson until a bullet hit him in the skull.

"You're gonna have a harder time doing that to me, even if this fancy wall allowed bullets to pass through it," Blonsky said, staring at the assailant. It was a woman, dressed entirely in black. She wore a mask that covered her head entirely, though it appeared that a hole on the back allowed her ponytail to poke through. She had a pair of black and yellow boomerangs attatched to her belt. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Her cold, blue eyes stared at him, and then she placed a device on the outside of the one-way wall. She pressed a button, and the wall itself simply dissolved. She picked up a shirt from the clothing stack and tossed it to him. "Put that on. It's rather cold outside." She spoke with an Australian accent, thus explaining the boomerangs. "We're leaving in five minutes."

"What is this?"

He imagined she was smiling under that mask. "We require your unique services, Captain Blonsky."

"You want the monster, don't you?"

"Sooner rather than later."

Blonsky himself smiled. "You'll have it," he said, his voice already deepening.

The process was still painful, the change. It didn't take long for his body to tripple in size, to change shade into that pale green-yellow color. He felt his bones crack and grow. In less than two minutes, he stood eight feet tall, his head hitting the ceiling.

The Abomination asked, "Now, when do we get started?"

She replied, "Now."

* * *

0110 hours

SHIELD HQ

Colorado

Nick Fury watched as the Abomination and the woman made their way through the facility's halls toward the ground level. He sighed. He knew it was a bad idea, keeping Blonsky alive. Unfortunately, the World Security Council wanted him, and gamma monsters were a pain in the ass to kill. The worst one was, luckily, under a tiny bit of what Fury foolishly called control, but Blonsky was a problem all his own.

He turned to Agent Sitwell and asked, "We have anything remotely close that these folks haven't killed yet?"

Sitwell hit a few buttons on his console, then spun his chair around and said, "Well, you're not gonna like it."

* * *

0115 hours

Above the Arctic Circle

The armor was working well. Tony Stark had been meaning to test out the extreme weather suit in actual extreme weather, but aside from the occasional hurricane, the Malibu coast didn't suffer much extreme weather. Thankfully, the Arctic Circle provided ample cold weather for the suit's first test. He was cruising comfortably at an interior temperature of sixty-seven degrees.

The Arctic Circle, however, was nothing particularly nice to look at. Ice and water as far as the eye could see, for the most part. He thought he could see Greenland, but nobody liked looking at Greenland. Might not even have _been_ Greenland. Geography wasn't his strong suit, technology was. Now he was wondering if he was anywhere near Greenland.

A call came through on his personal line. "Hello, you've reached the onboard phone of Mister Tony Stark," he said, imitating an answering machine, "you may have trouble reaching me thanks to some hefty overcast in the area. Please call again some other time when I can choose to ignore you."

"Funny, Stark," Nick Fury said, "I need to ask you for a favor, and I need the answer quick."

"Well, then you should have asked Agent Romanoff to ask me. I'm always a little too quick when it comes to women."

"I need you to head for Alaska. There's a SHIELD facility there currently under assault by an unknown enemy force."

"Unknown, hmm. I thought you knew _everything_, Fury."

"Just get there."

"All right, but if this is super powered bad guy stuff, I'm getting a raise in my SHIELD consultant job." Sadly, Fury hung up before he responded to Tony's quip. "He's no fun some times." He hit the throttle and sped off to the Great Aloha State of Alaska, or at least that's what his sarcastic mind called it.

* * *

0118 hours

SHIELD HQ

Colorado

Fury sighed again. He looked over at Sitwell. "Next time something we don't like breaks out of one of our facilities, we call somebody else. They can sit around and wait for Captain America to kick their ass, he doesn't ask for a raise."

* * *

0122 hours

SHIELD Secure Outpost

Alaska

The plane waiting for them on the tarmac was a C-5 Galaxy. Abomination smiled. They clearly knew who it was they were picking up. The woman, who's name he still didn't know, was almost walking up the ramp when something flew past her and punched her in the face as it did. Abomination steeled himself for what it was that was attacking them, and was caught completely off guard by the normal-sized human in the red and gold armor in front of him.

"What the hell do you think you are?" he asked the man.

"Oh, y'know, people call me lots of things. Iron Man, Suit Dude, the ladies generally just scream out 'Tony' before climaxing, but that's besides the point. Um... I guess Iron Man would probably work in this situation. What exactly do you think you are, the wannabe Hulk?" Iron Man held up his hand and fired a ray of some sort at the Abomination, knocking him back a few feet, but he remained standing.

"Tony Stark, that's who you are. The billionaire with the high tech tuxedo." He ran at Stark, throwing a punch of his own, which knocked the rich man back several feet onto the ramp of the plane, as well as on his back. "I'm no imitation, I'm the replacement. The Hulk is yesterday's news, I'm the Abomination!"

Stark sat up a little, then a micro missile launcher appeared from his shoulder. He launched a missile at the Abomination, which hit him square in the chest, but still opened no wounds. It simply tickled. "Abomination, eh? Y'know, somebody needs to tell me where you folks think up these stupid names." Stark stood and a beam of focused energy erupted from his chest, hitting the Abomination in the face. It knocked him down, but he still wasn't badly injured. "Hulk, Abomination, Mandarin... Was there a Crappy Names Convention a couple years ago that I missed? I thought Iron Monger and Iron Patriot were gonna be the worst things I ever had to hear."

Abomination burst into a run, again, but this time he tackled Stark, breaking through the plane's ramp and Stark's armor. The chest piece was cracked wide open. _This is going to be good_, Abomination thought.

* * *

0128 hours

_This is gonna be bad_, Tony thought. The absurdly named Abomination had cracked the chest plate, pretty much ruining his chances of using the unibeam again, at least until he repaired the suit. The Abomination stood up and slammed his fists down, but Tony kicked in the boot jets and sped away, toward the front of the plane. He stood and fired a repulsor beam at the monster, but the Abomination shook it off. "Is that all you've got? A couple of fancy light beams? You used to make some nice guns, Stark, where's all that stuff?"

Tony raised his left arm, readying a missile. "Oh, y'know, just an image make over, but I bet you know a lot about that." He fired the missile which the Abomination caught, and threw right back at him. "Oh, shit!" He jumped out of the way just in time for the explosion to destroy the plane's front landing gear, dropping down on top of him. He was pinned underneath the nose of the plane.

The Abomination walked up to him and placed his foot on Tony's chest. "I'd kill you now, but I think I'll keep you alive for the eventual round two. It's Yanks like you that just get fun to stomp on," he punctuated the word stomp with an actual stomp. Tony felt like his heart was going to burst. "You're no Hulk, Stark. You can't even begin to think you can beat me." Suddenly, the Abomination began to shrink, until he was simply a human being once more, with his bare foot on the chest piece. "Seeing as you broke our ride, it looks like we'll have to borrow one of SHIELD's."

"I didn't do that," Tony coughed out, "you did."

"With your missile. You broke it, you bought it, my friend." He walked over to the woman dressed entirely in black, who had gotten back up at some point during the greatly one-sided fight. Together, they hopped in the helicopter sitting on the landing pad and off they flew.

Tony just barely lifted the front of the plane enough to crawl out from under it, then dialed Fury. "Hey, Fury, you're big monster's out of the bag."

"Blonsky got away? How?"

"Oh, y'know, Hulk-like strength, impenetrable skin, the works. Looks like _somebody_ owes me an explanation, and a ton of stuff to fix up my latest suit. Why would anybody want _this_ guy anyway, Fury?"

"Any number of things, like the Super Soldier Serum coursing through his blood."

Tony stood up, and then the chest plate fell off, exposing him to the Alaskan cold. "Shit."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

0202 hours

SHIELD HQ

Colorado

Tony strolled down the hallway to Fury's office, completely pissed off. The extreme weather armor all but ruined, thanks to that yellow-green wannabe Hulk. He already had Jarvis hard at work fabricating the next design, hopefully capable of combating a Hulk-sized freak like the Abomination. Round Two should be quite interesting.

Fury was sitting behind his desk, which was covered with papers, file folders, binders—the works. There was barely enough room for the miniscule desk lamp that was nearly being pushed off the corner. Tony closed the door and said, "As a point of professional pride. I never let my desk get _this_ cluttered."

Fury looked up at him, his one eye glaring. "Your desk is probably covered in pictures of muscle cars and softcore porn."

"Muscle cars and porn, yes. Softcore, no."

"What are you doing here, Stark?"

"You owe me an explanation of that thing. Bruce been going around giving people blood transfusions?"

Fury sighed. "You're not far off. The man you met is Captain Emil Blonsky, Royal Marine. Back when you were beating your buddy Rhodes up in your house, he was working with General Ross, hunting down Banner. While Ross was hunting him, Banner got into contact with a Doctor Samuel Sterns, who got a sample of Bruce's blood and cloned a ton more of it."

"Bruce injected himself with a prototype Super Soldier Serum, what's this guy got running through him?"

"In addition to Banner's blood, which he got from Sterns, Blonsky is also playing host to the only other working sample of Dr. Erskine's Super Soldier Serum from the forties. He's the first successful trial after Cap himself." Fury took a cigar from a box on his desk. Tony noted that the cigars were top flight Cubans, illegal to everybody else, though he doubted Nick Fury had to pass through customs. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of Blonsky, his story was in the Initiative stuff we gave you just prior to the Battle of New York."

"Yeah, I skimmed. Gods, a World War II soldier and one monster were enough for me." Tony took a cigar from the box, earning him yet another glare from that intense right eye. "So he's got the Hulk serum from Bruce's blood, and whatever leftover Super Soldier stuff you guys had from the forties."

"Not us. Unfortunately, SHIELD didn't get to keep the Serum after the War ended. Your father wanted it transported to Antarctica, keep it in cold storage down there, where nobody could ever find it. Colonel Phillips, head of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, had it kept in mothballs in Virginia, just in case they could find somebody else to use it on. When General Ross took over the BioTech program, he had access to all the SSR's research data."

"Blonsky didn't exactly volunteer for this, did he?"

"Matter of fact, he did. And _he_ forced Sterns to use Banner's blood and gamma radiation on him. Ross had to use the Hulk to beat him in the first place."

Tony sighed. "We don't exactly have that luxury. So give me something I can use."

Fury stood up. "I can't give you anything. You've got a leash on Rhodes and his Patriot armor, call him back."

"Rhodey's a little busy working for the Air Force. You've got a badass super spy or two just sitting around, loan me one."

Fury sighed.

* * *

0216 hours

Clint Barton hated being woken up at two in the morning. _Nothing_ good happens at two in the morning. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes and yawned as he walked into Fury's office. As per usual, whenever he walked into Fury's office, Fury wasn't alone. Tony Stark stood off to the side of Fury's desk, twirling one of Fury's prized Cuban cigars in his hand.

"Agent Barton, you remember Mr. Stark," Fury said, a hint of anger in his voice. Clint couldn't blame him. Fury didn't like anyone touching his Cubans.

"How's it going, Tony?" he asked.

"Oh, y'know, big gamma monsters, ninja chicks with boomerangs on their belts, the usual. How's Agent Romanoff?"

"Last I knew, on assignment with Cap."

Fury said, "Agent Barton, for the time being, you'll be on loan to Mr. Stark. We have a situation, and he'll need your help to see it through."

"Situation, sir?"

"Captain Blonsky was retrieved from Alaska a little over an hour ago. Cap and Romanoff are down in Mexico, Banner's doing humanitarian work in Taiwan and Thor's off the grid. You two are all we can count on to stop this threat before it starts."

Clint sat down on the chair in the corner and tried to look as if he were deep in thought. "Okay, I'm in."

Tony walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Let's go, Cupid."

* * *

0258 hours

Unknown Facility

Unknown location

The place reminded Blonsky of the bottling plant he'd first seen the Hulk in. Conveyors, catwalks, forklifts, crates, the place was as industrial as you could make it, and yet, its sole purpose, hidden from prying eyes, was making superweapons. He almost wanted to laugh at the sheer simplicity of the place.

The woman _still_ hadn't revealed her name to him, and she was still leading him around. The catwalks were their prime terrain during their trek through the base. His very presence stopped more than one worker as they placed one crate or another on the conveyor belts to be shipped off to one of the world's many conflict zones. He couldn't imagine they were much more than simple soldiers, otherwise SHIELD wouldn't be so worried about keeping him locked up.

Their final destination in the building was an office. Behind a very large, very expensive oak desk that had to be far older than the ages of the room's three occupants combined sat a young man, likely no older than twenty-three or twenty-four. He was reading a piece of paper in a file folder.

The man asked, "Do you know who Steve Rogers is, Captain Blonsky?"

Blonsky searched his mind, but the name didn't ring a bell. "No."

The man looked up from his folder. "The serum coursing through your veins is the exact same as his, straight from mind of Dr. Abraham Erskine. _Now_ does the name sound familiar?"

"You're talking about Captain America, aren't you?"

He closed the folder and set it down on his desk. "I am. He was a very important man both in the nineteen forties and, more recently, just a couple of years ago when aliens invaded New York City." He stood up and walked over to Blonsky. "Now, tell me, do you think _he_ needed an extra dose of Super Soldier blood and some gamma rays to be as heroic as possible?"

Blonsky smiled. "I wouldn't know, I'm not some pompous jackass with delusions of patriotism." He leaned in closer to the young man. "But, I assume that's why you need me, because I'm _stronger_ than Captain America."

The young man smiled. "You're very right, Captain Blonsky. Captain America holds no candle to you." He shrugged. "Then again, you hold no candle to the Hulk. From what I read in your file, the only thing that kept you alive was Banner's feelings for a woman."

Blonsky wanted to change, but he kept himself under control. "I'm still alive because I'm tough. I've been in more combat operations than you or your little Aussie ninja over there, and I didn't have any Super Soldier or gamma enhancements."

The man turned to the woman. "Boomerang, show him what you can do."

Blonsky turned to the woman—known as Boomerang, apparently—but even with his enhanced speed, he lost track of her. She was fast. Suddenly, he was knocked to the floor, on his back, and she held a knife to his neck. It took him a second to realize that the knife was the tip of a boomerang. She pressed it into his skin.

And drew blood.

Through gritted teeth, he said, "You're an impressive bitch."

The man clapped his hands. "Indeed she is. Very few people know that the Super Soldier Serum is not only yesterday's news, but that I've perfected it to the point that only a single injection is required for a stable, strengthened reaction. I've also enhanced it significantly; that dose of forties fluids they injected into you could never compare to what I've made."

"If you've made such a perfect formula, what the hell do you need me for?"

He smiled. "Technically, I don't need Emil Blonsky, I need the Abomination. You're also going to be a simple distraction, to keep Tony Stark away from me."

"Stark?"

Boomerang stood, pulling the knife away from Blonsky's neck. She answered, "He has something we need. But, we need him to follow a trail of fake breadcrumbs first, so that we can get what it is we need."

Blonsky stood up, wiped the blood off of his neck, and said, "Then I guess I'm in. Stark's nothing compared to me. I tore up one of his armors in seconds."

The young man said, "So Boomerang tells me. She spoke very highly of you on your way here from Alaska."

Blonsky knew that she'd never said anything, but he kept his mouth shut about that. "So, when do we start?"

The young man held his hand out. "Now."

Blonsky shook the man's hand. "What do I call you?"

"My name is Zeke. Pure and simple."

* * *

0317 hours

Tony Stark's Mansion

Malibu, California

"No, no, no, no, _no!_" Pepper Potts yelled, her skin starting to glow red-orange. "You told me that you were making your armors in Nevada now, _not here!_"

Tony grabbed her by the shoulders. "Honey, sweetie, you're starting to go red, calm down."

Clint chuckled under his breath. His relationship issues were _far_ less complicated than these two. He had to admit, though. Tony was a lucky man. Pepper was as beautiful as Natasha, and far scarier, and just as determined. She ran the day-to-day business side of Stark Industries, giving Tony more and more time to tinker around with his armors. She was also one of the luckiest people in the world, since Tony had stabilized the Extremis serum in her body. All the glow and none of the blow-up of Extremis.

"Pepper, this is Clint Barton, better known as Hawkeye. He's going to be helping me on one of those SHIELD consulting things you can't stand so much."

Pepper turned to look at Clint. "Nice to meet you, but this is under protest."

Clint held up his hands. "I'm just here to help Tony, is all. My main business is working hotspots for SHIELD."

She gave him a slightly longer look, then asked, "Wait, you were in New York, weren't you?"

"I was."

She turned back to Tony. "Is this an Avengers thing, again?"

Tony once again grabbed her by the shoulders. "I swear to you, this has nothing to do with the Avengers. I mean, I did _kinda_ get my ass kicked by one of Bruce's accidents, and Fury loaned me Clint to take him down, but Cap, Thor and Natasha have nothing to do with this."

"You swore to me that Fury wasn't going to con you into SHIELD business again."

"Well, a lot of things happened, and I got pummeled by a yellow-green dude rocking some gamma steroids. This isn't about SHIELD, it's about putting that guy's ass back in a super human prison cell. _Or_, sending him to Asgard so that Thor can kick his ass."

Clint said, "Hey, that sounds like fun."

Tony's AI butler, Jarvis, interupted. "Excuse me, everyone, but sir, the suit you requested is nearly completed. It's waiting for you down in the garage."

Tony clapped his hands. "Excellent work, Jarvis. Clint, if you'll follow me, I'll show you the Showroom." He turned to Pepper. "Honey, I swear to you, this is the _absolute_ last time I get suckered into fixing one of Fury's half-assed whatevers."

Tony led Clint downstairs, into a room that would be nearly any man's dream. Cars lined two sides of the long room, ranging from vintage muscle cars to their newer counterparts and more. The far corner of the room held a showcase of armors, what Tony had described as the Mark I through to the Mark VII, the Mark I being the armor he'd built to save his life in an Afghanistan cave, and the Mark VII being the armor that got field-tested during the Battle of New York. An eighth armor stood in a more separate showcase, labelled the Mark 42 (this one with a number instead of Roman numerals). Clint considered asking him where the Marks VIII through XLI were, but there were more important things to worry about.

Tony took off his coat and draped it over a chair then tapped a button on his glass keyboard and a hologram of the Abomination appeared in the center of the room, slowly rotating. "What do you know about him, Clint?" Tony asked.

Clint tried to think of the specifics of his briefing back when Blonsky had been locked up in Alaska. "Emil Blonsky. Russian, though he was raised in Hertfordshire, England. Joined the Royal Marines when he was nineteen, worked in combat missions almost exclusively. Turned down a great many promotions to stay on the battlefield. After a tour in Afghanistan—about the same time you were there, actually—he participated in a trade program with Special Operations Command, that's when he was assigned to General Ross's Hulkbuster unit, and when he was given the Super Soldier Serum, and got himself stuffed with gamma rays."

Tony nodded. "You do excellent homework, Agent Barton." He waved his hand to the side. The Abomination hologram was replaced by one of a woman, dressed entirely in black, with a pair of boomerangs on her belt. "What about _her_?"

Clint rubbed at his chin. "I don't know. Nobody I've ever seen before."

"Punching her in the face caused a twenty-three point six percent drop in my left repulsor's efficiency, which makes me think there's something up about her, too."

"Do we have the security footage from inside the facility?"

"As a matter of fact, we do, but don't tell Fury." He waved the hologram away again, and a different hologram showed the security camera footage from the Alaskan facility.

The first video showed the front door, with three agents standing guard. Well, one standing, the other two sitting down. They appeared to be watching a football game on a laptop. The lights went out, and the emergency lighting kicked in immediately, illuminating the slaughter that followed the lights out. The woman grabbed the standing man and flattened his face—quite literally—on the desk in front of them. One of the sitting men went for his gun, the woman had picked up the laptop and flung it at his neck like it was a blade. It decapitated him instantly. The last man had gotten his gun out and started shooting, but the woman dodged each and every shot, at close range. She then grabbed his hand, and the gun, and put the barrel of the weapon under his chin. She forced him to squeeze the trigger, and his brains splattered all over the ceiling.

The second video was similarly disturbing. Thanks to the soundproof nature of the rooms in the facility, the men in the next room hadn't heard the murder from the previous room. The woman walked in and picked up the first man she saw, lifted him over her head, and threw him at the other man in the room. She then walked past their bleeding bodies and slit their throats with one of her boomerangs. Their blood pooled around their bodies together.

The rest of the footage was similar, mutilation and death were the common themes. When they were done, Tony shut off the holograms and sat down at his desk. "I'm pretty sure this babe could give Cap a run for his money."

Clint said, "And then some. I've been to some of the worst trouble spots on this planet, and I've never seen anything like _that_."

"So, we've got Blonsky and a chick with enhanced Super Soldier Serum running through her. Makes you wish we were gettin' the band back together, doesn't it, Elwood?"

"Naw, Jake... It makes me want to shit my pants."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

0850 hours

Outside a SHIELD Secure Laboratory

Norway

Tony was in position, with his new uber-armor (or so he explained it), while Clint made his way to the target zone. He spun the dial built into the handgrip of his bow and pulled out a rope arrow, then loosed it on the building ahead, climbed the rope, and found his position on the roof. There, he slipped his bow back over his shoulder and drew his sniper rifle. Despite the fact that he was the best shot known to humankind, Clint Barton detested guns. They were just so... inelegant. His father had taught him that the bow and arrow was the best weapon a man could use because it was just so much more personal. Your aim had to be far better than simply look down the barrel and line up the sights, your arm had to be strong enough to pull back the line, and you had to be patient. There was never a target you couldn't hit if you weren't patient.

Clint peered down the scope and saw the target. Emil Blonsky looked to be having a pleasant meal at a nice resturaunt, nothing sinister seemed to be in his agenda, except for the fact that he just happened to find the one SHIELD laboratory that was still studying Extremis. Clint didn't know a whole lot about Extremis, just that it was supposedly a genetic helper, enhancing the way the body heals itself and creating new ways for the body to work. He could only piss his pants at Blonsky injecting himself with Extremis and becoming even stronger than he already was. His liberators could have even set him up with that enhance Super Soldier Serum that their female assassin was hopped up on.

"Target is sitting down to a meal, Tony. What do you want me to do?" Clint asked.

"Kinda thought that was obvious: shoot him in his face."

"Kill him? Before he leads us to his new friends?"

"A bullet's not gonna kill him. Likely won't even penetrate his outer skin layers. Here's a fun fact: Bruce's Hulk serum doubles the number of skin layers a human possesses. I'll never, for the life of me, figure out why Bruce told me that."

Clint smiled. "Cut him some slack. It may be the bane of his existence, but the guy's gotta be proud about something."

"Good point. It may have been killing me, but I'm still quite proud of that Arc Reactor I built in the cave. But, I'm a little bit more proud of the sweet baby I'm locked inside now."

Clint adjusted the sight a little. "Yeah, you never showed it to me. What's so special about this new suit, anyway?"

"You get Blonsky to show you his tall, yellow and ugly-as-hell side, I'll show you just what the HU1K is all about."

He couldn't pass it up. Granted, he didn't want the possible death and likely property destruction that was about to happen, but seeing Tony try out one of his new toys would be interesting. "Taking the shot now, Tony."

Clint squeezed the trigger, sending a 7.62mm bullet through the chamber and out into the world, where it hit Blonsky's coffee mug. That wasn't right. Blonsky had moved the mug right up into the path of the bullet just as it would have impacted with his face, almost as if he knew Clint was there. _This probably won't be good_, he thought.

"Tony, he was ready for the shot, what now?"

"Not what I expected, but not surprising, either. You did good, buddy, just find a safe place to give me backup from, and I'll handle the rest."

Clint dropped the rifle, but suddenly, a shadow enveloped him. He looked up and saw the ugly face of the Abomination grinning down at him. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Oswald." Clint drew his bow and fired a flash arrow at the Abomination's face, blinding him. He slid out from under the big monster and broke into a run. "Nice trick, but that won't do you very good!"

"What about this?" Tony asked.

* * *

0858 hours

Tony missed Igor. It was the largest armor he had at the time, used as a heavy-lifter in more ways that one. He blew it up after dealing with Aldrich Killian, and although he had built another one, just like the rest of the Iron Legion, it just didn't have the same feeling to him as the original Igor did.

The suit he was wearing, however, was _not_ Igor.

The suit he was wearing was just as tall as the Abomination, and just as big, too. HU1K. Officially designated the Mark XLVII, Human One-Thousand, but HU1K really just meant Hulk. Bruce drew up the specs for him while Tony was using him for a therapist, he'd wanted somebody to have something to deal with the Hulk in case Bruce got to a point where he couldn't focus the monster anymore. Tony didn't like the idea, but he understood his friend's desire to have a backup plan.

He punched the Abomination in the face, knocking him back more than a few feet. The roof looked like it was starting to buckle under the weight of both the armor and the monster. Tony didn't want to take any chances at extreme collateral damage, so he burned the thrusters harder and pushed the Abomination off the roof, right into the abandoned building behind the SHIELD laboratory. He landed a series of punches on the Abomination's face, for the first time since they'd met each other, drawing blood.

But, the Abomination wasn't going to stand for that. He grabbed the suit by the arms and threw Tony directly at the laboratory, cracking the outer wall and causing a mass of screams from inside the building. Tony fired off a round of unibeam energy, launching the Abomination ten feet into the air. He landed on his back, with his head inside the destroyed toilet of what had to have been an apartment bathroom.

"So, how's it feel to be the one to get his ass kicked?" Tony asked, walking up to the Abomination.

However, the Abomination was one step ahead of him. He stood up and grabbed the suit by the neck and squeezed. "I wouldn't know. _You're_ the one getting your ass kicked."

Tony thought, _This is not good_.

* * *

0901 hours

Inside a SHIELD Secure Laboratory

Norway

Clint had spotted her outside during all the ruckus with Tony and Blonsky. Long brown hair, worn in a ponytail. She wasn't wearing the ninja outfit, but she was keeping her distance from the super showdown happening outside the laboratory, at least until she took her chance to slip into the sewer system. Clint calculated the travel time between that sewer opening to the lower levels of the laboratory and waited for her to come through the drainage opening in the basement. He didn't have an arrow readied, but instead was sharpening a twig he'd picked up outside.

It took about three minutes longer than he'd figured, so he assumed she must have been doing something nefarious, like planting explosives or something. He'd already called it in. She opened up the grate and then stood there, a shocked look on her beautiful face. Clint looked her over in that moment, taking in every part of her. She was dressed in a pair of tan slacks, a white halter top, and a similarly tan jacket, with black ballet shoes. She dressed that way to disguise herself as just any other beautiful woman in any other city, but it was her careful steps that had alerted him to her outside.

He studied her, how she managed herself. Her training was similar to Natasha's, but a little less deliberate, less focused. It wouldn't surprise him, Natasha had spawned quite a few imitators before he'd brought her in to SHIELD. Clint stood up straight from his leaning position and spun the sharpened twig around in his hand. He could tell that she was waiting for him to drop the twig, reach into his quiver, and draw an arrow. She was _certain_ that he was going to do that. Luckily for him, she hadn't noticed the knife in his other hand.

He dropped the knife to the floor, catching her attention, and then threw the twig at her leg. Despite the power behind the throw, the twig barely punctured her thigh, but it did enough damage to distract her further. Using the distraction to his advantage, he went at her with a spin kick, knocking her on her back, into the drainage opening.

"You're good," he said, training his bow at her abdomen, "but you're easy to read."

She spoken with an Australian accent. "Good to know, I'll just have to be unpredictable."

Clint loosed the arrow, which hit her in the stomach. She pulled it out, and then the electroshock tip kicked in, knocking her unconscious.

"Naw, I think you just need a nap." He tapped his earpiece. "This is Barton, I need a med crew down in the drainage junction. Any word on the sewer paths? Over."

"Nothing, Agent Barton, we don't know what she's done down here, over."

"Keep checking. I'm gonna stay down here with Sleeping Beauty until the med crew gets here, out." He felt the ground shake around him. "Keep doin' what you're doin', Tony."

* * *

0914 hours

Outside a SHIELD Secure Laboratory

Norway

The Abomination had to hand it to Stark, his new armor was good. He still wasn't a total match for a gamma human, but he was holding his own now. The Abomination wiped more blood from his brow and chuckled at the billionaire idiot. "Is that all you've got?"

Stark landed another punch on the Abomination's face, blurring his vision. Now, it was getting serious. The Abomination jump-kicked Stark's armor in the face, a strong enough force to knock a man's head off, but it did so little damage to Stark's armor that it was embarrassing. Stark grabbed him by the legs and start twirling around, getting him up to speed so that he could launch him clear across the country. The Abomination wouldn't stand for that. He kicked Stark in the face, again, and landed hard on his back.

The Abomination stood up and picked up a piece of ruined building around them. Just as he was about to drop the concrete onto Stark, his earpiece buzzed. "What?" he asked/growled.

"She's in, your job's done. Leave Stark alive."

"Fine." He dropped the concrete to the side. "You're pretty lucky my boss wants you alive, Stark. I was gonna drop that on you."

Stark didn't reply with words. A rocket launcher on the left arm opened up and the ordinance hit the Abomination right in the chest.

* * *

0942 hours

Tony awoke to Barton tapping on his helmet. "Okay, okay," he said, opening up the armor, "I'm up." He looked around. "Where's Blonsky?"

Clint helped him out of the armor. "He bolted right after you hit him with that rocket. We got his little Aussie girlfriend, though. She went down pretty easily for a Super Soldier."

Tony pulled his phone out and tapped a few buttons, setting the HU1K on auto-pilot. It stood up and made its way down onto the ground, and then inside the building through the freight entrance. "Wait, you got the ninja chick?"

"Yeah, that's what I said," Clint dead-panned, "she went down easier than I thought she would."

"She under guard?"

"Eighteen of the best agents who ever worked with Cap."

"We've gotta hurry."

* * *

0950 hours

Inside a SHIELD Secure Laboratory

Norway

Clint was mentally punching himself for not thinking about it. It was the oldest trick in the book: use a distraction to get what you're really after. _He'd_ used the trick himself when he fought her, dropping the knife to distract her and then kicking her in the face. She'd used Blonsky to take care of Tony while she infiltrated, used Clint himself to get her in the infirmary, and now she was unconscious in the one room that had the Extremis she was after.

Tony was already in a different suit, this one normal sized. The Mark V, he'd called it. He'd carried it as a briefcase beforehand, and its components had unfolded themselves into the standard Iron Man look. Clint led the way, past several bewildered agents that didn't understand why Iron Man was walking through the halls. When they arrived at the infirmary, they found that the woman was still strapped down, unconscious.

Clint turned to the lead agent, "We need more agents on this woman, _now_. And, move the Extremis, ASAP." The agent nodded, and Clint turned back to Tony. "So, what do we do?"

Tony waved at the lead agent. "Bring that Extremis here, please." The agent held up the vial, and Tony shot at it with the repulsor in his hand. "Taken care of."

"We were still examining that," Clint said.

"And if they told you this is the only lab with a sample of it, they lied their asses off, Clint. Now," he turned to the woman, "let's see if we can't wake her up."

The woman's eyes opened. "Already am," she said with a smile. She ripped her restraints apart and jumped up onto her feet. She kicked Clint in the face, then threw a hard punch into Tony's stomach, cracking the armor. "Not so iron anymore, are you, Stark?"

He backhanded her across the face. "That wasn't very clever, sweetheart." He punched at her face, but hit the wall when she ducked. "Then again, that _was_ kind of clever." The woman kicked Tony in the stomach, cracking the armor even further.

Clint got back to his feet and drew his knife. He took a swing at her, but she ducked out of the way and grabbed the knife, breaking his hand in the process. She then dug the knife into his shoulder, but he managed to push her away and pull the knife out, then threw it at her, getting it lodged in her back. She pulled the knife out, slammed it into the wall, and kicked him in the face again.

Tony had gotten his fist out of the dislodged from the wall and took another swing at her face, but grabbed him by the arm and started pulling, taking the arm clean off of Tony, exposing his real arm. He took his shot and fired off a repulsor at her face, severly burning her. She returned the favor by grabbing one of her boomerangs off the bedside table and throwing it at the wall behind Tony. It didn't take long for him to realize that it was about to explode. He dropped to the floor as the wall disintegrated. When Clint looked up, he saw that she was gone. The suit's arm was on the floor in front of them. He must have fallen unconscious for a moment or two, because all the agents around them were dead.

"Son of a bitch," he said, rubbing at his hand.

"No kidding," Tony said. "Don't suppose that knife you stuffed in her had a tracker, did it?" Clint shook his head. "Oh well." He held up his smartphone. A beeping dot on a GPS map appeared on the screen. "Good thing I tagged Blonsky."


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

1003 hours

Landing Strip

Norway

Blonsky held the tracker Stark planted on him. It had been part of Zeke's plan, getting Stark to plant the tracker on him. Just being in proximity of the plane had deactivated it, thanks to the jamming field the plane gave off. Blonsky flipped it like a coin and stuffed it back in his pocket. He climbed the steps back into the plane and found Boomerang sitting in the nearest seat, wearing nothing but her undergarments.

She stood up and walked over to him, slipped her slender handsd into his pocket, and pulled the tracker out to see it herself. "You did just fine, Emil," she said, her voice taking on a seductive tone.

"Yes," Zeke said. Blonsky looked around for him, and suddenly, a hologram appeared in front of them. "You've done extremely well, as a matter of fact."

Blonsky gently pushed Boomerang away. "If I did so well, why is it you stopped me from killing Stark?"

Zeke smiled. "You were losing quite badly to Stark, Emil, I'm sorry to say." He held up his holo-hand and a smaller hologram appeared in it, of the fight between the Abomination and Stark's suit of armor. "He would have killed _you_ if I hadn't told you to leave." He closed his hand and the smaller hologram disappeared. "Besides, I need Stark alive." He turned to Boomerang. "You have the Extremis?"

She nodded. "Of course. Stark thinks he destroyed it, but I switched the real vial with the fake while the incompetant agents were out of the room. It shouldn't take long to modify it for your purposes."

"Good," Zeke chuckled for a second, "then we can begin phase two. I want that tracker here, as soon as possible. Once it's here, we can truly begin."

"Begin what?" Blonsky asked.

Zeke smiled again. "Stealing stuff."

* * *

1014 hours

SHIELD Secure Laboratory

Norway

Fury's face on the screen looked about as angry as one could look. Tony didn't really care, because he didn't answer to Fury directly. He was sorry for Clint, though. "You mean to tell me that, not only did your little tracker fail, but that Australian woman got away with the only vial of Extremis that we had on that base?" Fury slammed his hands on his desk and stood up. "Do you have any idea how bad that is, Stark?"

"Really, really, _really_. But I want to know why you had a sample of Extremis in the first place. That stuff's just as dangerous as gamma and just as tough to deal with. Especially if a guy's got a whole army of Extremis-suckers coming after you."

Fury sighed. "I know. Just ask... never mind. Look, Stark, do you have any idea where Blonsky's going?"

"Nope. Not at all. The tracker cut out about a mile and a half away from the city. We don't know where he is, or even what their plan is. The only thing we know is that they have what they wanted from Norway."

Fury turned his head a little. "Agent Barton, what's your assessment?"

Clint stepped forward. "Director Fury, the woman was extremely impressive, Serum or not. She'd clearly studied Agent Romanoff's file. I personally trained Natasha some of the moves I saw the woman use on our agents. She's not someone to underestimate, and I recommend extreme caution to any more agents you send after her."

Fury leaned back in his seat. "All right. I want you two in Virginia, soon as possible. I've already set up a meeting between you and someone who's already chased down a gamma monster before. He should be able to help with the search for Blonsky." He tapped a button on the armrest of his chair. "Fury, out." And with that, the image disappeared.

Clint looked at Tony. "Someone with experience chasing gamma monsters?"

Tony wanted to punch something. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

* * *

1613 hours

Pentagon

Langley, Virginia

"Stark, if you're not out of my office in _five seconds_, I'll have you _thrown_ out!" Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross shouted at them. Clint couldn't even understand why Ross was shouting at _him_, he'd never even met the man. "If Fury thinks he can get me to help him, after he forced me off of Banner, he's got the patch on the wrong eye, then."

Tony propped his feet up on Ross's desk. "So, you're saying we should see the scarred up hole instead of the eye?"

"I'm saying I want you and your friend here the hell out of my office."

Clint stepped forward. "Sir, Director Fury sent us here for anything you can give us on Captain Emil Blonsky. Including your help finding him."

"Blonsky? What does he have to do with this? Fury had him picked up and taken to Alaska, he's in cryostorage."

Tony laughed. "That what Fury told you? He was broken out early this morning by an Australian ninja babe and whoever the hell it is she's working for."

"And Fury thinks I can tell you where he is? I gave up on that abomination when he started tearing up Harlem and killed Samuel Sterns."

Clint managed to stifle a laugh. Sterns was in a cryotube at SHIELD HQ, under the codename _Project Mr. Blue_. Natasha had taken him in right after Blonsky wrecked his lab and quite a few New York city streets. Of course, Director Fury had taken great steps to make sure Ross didn't know that, it made quite a bit of sense for him to assume that Sterns was dead.

"Sir," Clint began, "Director Fury didn't send us here to _ask_, he sent us here to get whatever we could from you."

Ross stepped toward him. "Is that a threat, Agent Barton?" He smiled, chuckled a bit. "Thought I didn't know who you were? The reputation of the Avengers traveled pretty far after the Battle of New York. You, Stark, the Super Soldier, a god, and the Hulk. I spend five years chasing him down, then Fury goes behind my back to the World Security Council and gets them to pull my funding. All so that freak could save the world!" Ross took a drink from the glass Tony had poured himself. "My contributions to any gamma hunting are over. Tell Fury that."

Tony stood up. "That's okay, General." He looked down at the laptop on the desk. "Jarvis, everything downloaded?"

Suddenly, the very British voice of Tony's AI chimed in. "Yes, sir. Miss Potts is already receiving it at the Nevada facility."

"Pepp?"

Over the vid-link, Pepper said, "We've got the info, Tony."

"All right." Tony looked back at Ross. "That about covers everything."

"What are you talking about, Stark?" Ross asked.

Tony pointed at the laptop. "You just so happened to be carrying everything relating to Hulk catching on this one laptop. Guess that mandatory 'base uplink' thing that every other branch of the military enforces didn't apply to one mustachioed man with a grudged against a green guy, huh?" Tony walked past him and patted him on the back. "Nice workin' with you, General. See you on Groundhog Day."

Clint smiled and followed Tony out of the general's office, leaving Ross so angry he was almost turning red.

* * *

1650 hours

Stark Industries Iron Tech Lab

50 miles outside Las Vegas, Nevada

Pepper Potts sipped at her coffee, mentally complaining for the eighth or nineth time that it wasn't hot enough. She regulated the heat in her hand and warmed it up again, but that didn't last all that long. She couldn't get it too hot, or she'd melt the cup. Just another thing to worry about, on top of being the managerial component to Stark Industries. She was just grateful that Tony was the public face, because she didn't like talking to people. Just another disadvantage of the Extremis serum coursing through her veins. She didn't want to literally blow up on someone at a press conference.

At Tony's insistance, Jarvis was running an HU1K armor, providing defense. The suit clomped around, usually sending a pen off the desk because of the vibrations. Once, it had caused her coffee to spill, but that had, luckily, been the sixth cup that hadn't been hot enough, she'd just gotten another. How Tony had ever stayed up so many days was beyond her, she could barely stay awake one full day.

"Miss Potts," Jarvis said, the HU1K standing before her, "the second sensor sweep in this half hour has produced the same results: the facility is totally secure."

Pepper took another sip. "Thank you, Jarvis. I hope Tony is overreacting about all of this."

"I do as well, ma'am."

As if on cue, the front door burst off its hinges and knocked the HU1K out. A large, humanoid monster walked into the facility, a woman with long brown hair and a man in a business suit behind it. The monster grabbed the HU1K's head and pulled it off, finding that no one was inside. "Damn it. I was hoping Stark would be inside."

"Please, Emil," the man said, patting the monster on the arm, "don't damage anything more." He walked up to Pepper. "The famous Pepper Potts, Tony's glorified secretary." He took her hand and kissed it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Zeke. Ezekial, if you'd like." He waved his hand to the woman and the monster. "These are my friends, Emil Blonsky and Boomerang."

Pepper could feel her skin starting to heat up. "What do you want?"

He walked over to the Mark XII hanging on chains beside Pepper's desk. "Oh, I ordered something online earlier, came to pick it up." He snapped his fingers at Boomerang. "This one'll do. Grab one of the data drives as well."

Blonsky touched Pepper's chin with his oversized index finger. "You're quite beautiful. Did Stark buy you?" Pepper punched him, knocking him back several feet. There was a small burn mark on his right cheek, but he was otherwise unaffected. "Quite the fighter, aren't you?"

"Emil!" Zeke shouted, "Leave her alone. If Stark's to know where we're going, she needs to be alive. Besides, the Extremis in her bloodstream makes her more than capable of matching you in a fight." Zeke took her by the hand and led her away from Blonsky. "I'm sorry. He's a little eccentric. They don't make gamma-powered super soldiers like they used to, huh?" He smiled. "Tell me, how long until Tony gets here?"

Once again, almost on cue, an HU1K flew through the open door and knocked Blonsky down, right onto the other, damaged HU1K. Tony planted his foot on Blonsky's chest to keep him down. "You owe me a door, buddy."

Zeke laughed, then clapped his hands. "Tony Stark." He pressed the button on the side of the Mark XII that opened it. "It's been a few years since we met." He stepped into the Mark XII, then closed the armor up. "You probably don't even remember me, do you?"

Tony kept his foot on Blonsky, but moved forward an inch or two. "Please, I don't remember what I had for—nope, I used that line last time. Who are you, again?"

Pepper saw a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye, in the girders above them. She smiled.

* * *

1710 hours

Stark Industries Iron Tech Lab

50 miles outside Las Vegas, Nevada

Clint kept his balance very well, thanks to Tony using very oversized girders and support beams. It was almost like walking on a catwalk, they were so large. The Abomination was under control, with Tony's foot keeping him down. The leader had put himself in one of Tony's extra suits. The woman was just standing there, almost like she was waiting for someone to give her an order. Clint drew a flash arrow and waited for Tony's call.

"I was maybe fifteen years old," the young man said, "trying to steal my father's spotlight away from, well, none other than you."

Tony asked, "I knew your father?"

"Knew him? You killed him, Tony. Three and a half years ago, in the Arc Reactor facility." The young man raised his hand and fired off a repulsor blast. The blast knocked Tony off of the Abomination, allowing the beast to stand up again. "How's that for a blast from the past, Tony?"

* * *

1714 hours

Stark Industries Iron Tech Lab

50 miles outside Las Vegas, Nevada

The blast had hit him right in the Arc Reactor, sending the energy distribution system haywire. "Jarvis, work around, _now_!" Tony shouted, then keyed up the suit's speaker system. That 'blast from the past' had done its job well. "Ezekial, right?" He stood up. "Ezekial _Stane_."

If he could see inside the Mark XII, Zeke would probably be smiling. "Oh! You _are_ good, Tony! No wonder my dad always thought of you as the son he never had."

"Is that was this is about? I killed your father, now you want revenge?"

"Revenge? _Nah_. I hated that son of a bitch, and I'm so very grateful you killed him that I'd shake your hand if I wasn't about to kill _you_." He turned to the Abomination. "Emil, please keep an eye on Mr. Stark, see to it that he doesn't pull any tricks out of that iron sleeve of his." Zeke walked closer to Tony. "No, I'm here because a few of my buyers have asked for a very... how do I say it... _special_, product." He turned to the woman. "You have the data drive?"

She held up the hard drive. "Right here, boss."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse us, Tony, we have to go. If you want to find us, look through your databases. There's an old facility you haven't used in some time, and it's where Stane International has decided to set up shop."

Tony chuckled. "So, out in a flash, huh?" And with that, Clint loosed his flash arrow, blinding everyone but Tony and Stane. Tony pushed the Abomination out of his way and ran toward Stane, throwing a punch that knocked the kid flat on his back. "Get out of my suit, kid!"

Stane had to be smiling again. "Nope." Stane let out his chaffing flares, blinding Tony. The irony of it wasn't lost on him: three and half years ago, Tony had been in a similar situation with Obadiah Stane, and he'd fired off flares to get out of the older man's grip. Now, their places were reversed, with Tony in the larger suit and Stane in the smaller one. Tony stood up and backed away, waiting for his HUD to come back up.

Something grabbed him by the head. _Abomination_, Tony thought as he detatched the head. He ducked underneath the large swinging yellow-green arm of the Hulk-sized monster. "Now would be a good time for another arrow, Hawkeye!" Tony shouted upward. Suddenly, three arrows stuck themselves in the Abomination's back. Electricity coursed through Blonsky's body, causing him to shift back into his human form and knocking him unconscious.

Sadly, Stane wasn't just standing still. Once again, in a stunning reversal of Iron Man Vs. Iron Monger, Stane jumped onto Tony's back and ripped out the suit's targeting system, just as Tony had done to Obadiah Stan years before. Tony opened the helmet and fired off a repulsor blast at the Mark XII, but Stane had moved out of the way, and was ready to counter with a blast of his own, from the unibeam. The blast knocked off the midsection panel of the HU1K, exposing Tony's stomach. Stane then leapt up and brought his fist down on the left shoulder housing, knocking it clean off. A second punch tore off half of the chest armor, while a kick brought Tony to his knees and ripped off a piece of the right leg.

Stane pointed his hand repulsor at Tony's face. "I'd like to kill you now, but then you'll never see the genious piece of art that I'm going to make out of this suit. I'm not my father's revenge tool, Tony, but you did take away any and all chance I had at showing him I was his son. That's why you're going to die." He turned to his cohorts—the woman had, at some point, gone up to the rafters and grabbed Clint, Tony hadn't even noticed—and addressed them. "Blonsky, Boomerang! Leave these three, we're heading back to home base." He turned back to Tony. "See ya around, Tony. Remember where I said I worked." With that, he kicked Tony in the face, knocking him out immediately.


End file.
